Reassurance for Recent SAT Test Takers

Applying to College
1

<p>An update of a similar post from an earlier SAT cycle:</p>

<p>It's that time of year when many students are waiting for or just getting their first SAT results. For everyone who's stressed, venture a guess at what the mean SAT scores were for college-bound seniors who graduated <em>in the top 10% of their class</em>:</p>

<p>CR/M/W
580/604/577</p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/about/news_info/cbsenior/yr2006/reports.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/about/news_info/cbsenior/yr2006/reports.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Of couse such scores won't get you admitted to the most competitive schools in the country, but this data should help students and parents get some perspective on the big picture outside the CC hothouse:</p>

<p>--if you have good grades and get your scores to around 600/section you're already in very select company
--there are plenty of students whose SAT scores underpredict their academic performance
--if almost everyone in your AP classes scored>2100, your school is not normal; it's just not like that at most high schools in America.</p>

<p>So if you're disappointed in your score relax, take a deep breath and look at the big picture: if you do your research wisely you can have choices among dozens of truly wonderful colleges who might find you more remarkable than you give yourself credit for.</p>

2

<p>All that really means is that a high GPA isn't necessarily linked to high standardized test scores.</p>

3

<p>Wow! after you've been on CC long enough, your standards definitely get skewed.</p>

4

<p>Yea my school is totally not normal, and it is a public school too... More than half of my AP chem class got 2100+... But we are in MA, so maybe that's also part of it lol.</p>

5

<p>no use using my schools SAT scores for average comparison...</p>

<p>we're third in the state in SAT scores... I'd get depressed fast XD</p>

6

<p>Top 10% man.... Not that impressive anyway to begin with...</p>